The Lost Howl

The dream

Footsteps... They sound through the forest as a woman runs through the foliage barefoot. Her breath hitching in her throat as she hears quick, small footsteps behind her. Not daring to look behind, the blonde raven-haired woman continues her run, her feet aching as the twigs and stones of the forest path dig into them.

Suddenly, she hears a howl behind her, as the predator that chased her, got closer and closer. The woman was running out of breath, and finally, stumbled. Though she didn't hit the ground as she expected, but slid down a slope instead, landing next to a waterfall with a loud thump.

Trying to regain her breath, her eyes looked around the clearing wildly for a quick way out. Looking up, her eyes fell upon the full moon that provided the dim light in the clearing. Gathering her bearings, the woman was about to get up when the wolf pounced!

Landing right on top of the woman, who fell back against the ground "ACK!" she shouted, unable to look away from the golden eyes of the black wolf as they stared at her. Hungry for something.

When she was sure the beast would strike, she braced herself for-

---

"Yo, Diana! Wake up will you! Night shifts can't be that boring can they?" A sudden shake of Diana's shoulder startled her awake. The droplets of rain could be heard on the metal of the car she was sitting in. With a groan, Diana sat up, stretching as much as the confines of the police cab would allow.

"Sorry chief, had a rough night last night" Diana explained to the man next to her, watching as he drove. He was dressed in full police gear and a cowboy hat, which wasn't that strange in this rural town Diana had found herself to be in. She herself wore a leather jacket and civilian clothes since she was a detective after all.

"Didn't we all? Ya were talkin' in yer sleep again girl." Chief replied, scratching his scruffy white beard with one of his hands while the other was firmly on the steering wheel.

He was right, the whole town was plunged into chaos it seemed with one phone call. "Let's just hope, that remains an isolated incident chief and that we can find who did it," Diana mumbled, reaching for the coffee cup that sat in the cupholder. It was dark outside as the pair patrolled the town, looking for anything that looked off.

It was a precaution given the disturbing find of the night before, a dead body. The body of a young girl. No one was sure of how long the body had been there or not, but one thing was sure. The murder was quite brutal, and Diana had to figure out what happened to her. Well, Diana and the entire police department of Oak Ridge town.

Looking out into the dark, Diana leaned against the window to see the trees wiz by somewhat. "so..."

"So what?" Chief asked his eyes firmly on the road. When they told Diana he was the safest driver, she had, at first, not believed her colleagues but Diana had yet to see Chief take his eyes off the road once while she was in the car with him. Which put her mind at ease while she was in the car with him.

"So what was I saying while I dared take a nap?" Diana teased, sending the older cop a smirk, who in turn, shook his head in disbelief.

"Not much that I could make sense of, just yer average sleep talk. Thought I heard ya say a name though" Chief replied, sitting back in his seat as the windshield wipers filled the silence that followed.

Diana tried to think of a name she could have remembered from her dream, but nothing would surface. "What name?" She asked after a while, unable to remember it herself.

Chief hummed, as he tried to remember himself. The man was in his late 50s, and it was starting to show in his memory sometimes. "Well I think it was-"

Out of nowhere, the blinding lights of headlights popped up over a hill they were driving on, blinding both the cops in the car. "WATCH OUT!" Diana shouted, Chief stopping just in time as he almost hit the car that was stationary on the side of the road.

Releasing the breath, Diana didn't realize she had been holding, her eyes shifted to the car in front of them.

As the two of them caught their breaths and reassembled their bearings, Chief grumbled something to himself as he got out of the car in a huff, taking a flashlight with him.

"here we go.... gotta make sure that old man doesn't get himself killed. " she mumbled to herself, getting out of the car, into the pouring rain that sent a shiver down her spine. By the time she caught up with the older cop, he was already heatedly talking to a man, presumably the car owner.

"What the hell do yall think yer doin' this late at night in this weather!" Chief shouted at the man, as 3 others came from around the large SUV to see what the commotion was about as well, though they were oddly silent even as their friend was berated.

Catching the eye of a woman in the group, Diana received a glare that seemed to mean more than just a distaste for cops. Though she shrugged it off, as something she was imagining.

"Sir, our car broke down, I'm sorry for almost causing an accident but we have been trying to reach road services to help us, but we can't get a signal." The young man replied, strangely calm as he crossed his arms. Diana noticed his shoulder-length, dark brown hair was drenched.

They had probably been out here for quite a while. That's when he, seemed to notice Diana and when they made eye contact. Something inside her sent a shock through her body as if she had seen a ghost. 

Which was strange, since, this would be a ghost she had never seen before.